Fish ID Friday – Caribbean Reef Shark

15 July 2016

A slight cheat this week with an old picture of a reef shark taken in Grand Cayman’s East End. Please forgive me because I have been lain low with a bad back and separated from my laptop with my images while travelling. Don’t get me started on bad backs and the ineffective remedies I have tried to overcome it on this trip!

But I do like sharks, and sharks are technically fish (I checked!) – Sharks are a group of fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. The Caribbean Reef Shark, or Carcharhinus perezii, is a type of requiem shark, and near threatened on the endangered list. They grow to up to three metres but I have not seen one bigger than about five feet. This fellow grew inquisitive on a dive in the East End – Anna was swimming away and I was swimming in for a close up. Cayman’s East End is a good place to see sharks as they are naturally wary of the busier west side dive sites but have become more inquisitive with the increase of spear fishing to combat the lionfish menace.